Symbols: A Handbook for Seeing

(Paperback)

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Description

A wide-ranging and entirely fresh approach to the symbols resource volume, packed with hundreds of visual references old and new. Symbols- A Handbook for Seeing adopts an entirely new approach to the familiar symbols resource. Eschewing the traditional approach to the symbols compendium, which favors classical examples and psychological interpretations, Symbols draws on traditions both historical and contemporary, sacred and profane. The sources for these visual manifestations range from Greco-Roman art, fine art photography, ceramics, modern architecture, ancient coins, Soviet propaganda, textiles, and much, much more. The thematic sections-Natural, Animate, Human, Built, and Abstract-include dozens of entries packed with well over 700 witty and surprising visual examples by well-known artists and vernacular makers alike. A book that informs, but also inspires, Symbols is a new kind of symbols resource for today's artists and designers.

Reviews

As graphic designers who specialize in logos and trademarks, Mark Fox and Angie Wang have done a splendid job in their richly illustrated compendium Symbols: A Handbook for Seeing of reinterpreting the classic images in the context of here and now. The book is a means of identifying, categorizing, and explaining the multiple meanings of seminal archetypes. A unique mix of Jung interpretation and Randian functionality, the book sifts through everyday things and rare artifacts that comprise a sign language that designers use to communicate throughout the universe of ideas. - Steven Heller, Print magazine, The Daily Heller

Fox and Wang are collaborators at Design is Play, a studio in San Francisco, and Symbols showcases Foxs mastery of logos and Wangs mastery of typography. The books elegant design and intelligent wit create an enjoyable reading experience. With so many examples, an index helps readers find work by the artists of their choosing, including Maya Lin, Leni Riefenstahl and Ed Big Daddy Roth. - Ruth Hagopian, Communication Arts

Symbols is a richly illustrated and fascinatingly told visual encyclopedia To understand a culture, understand how it uses universal symbols. In todays age of radical cultural upheaval, a book like Symbols, though it is overtly apolitical, feels like a necessary companion. Its a reminder that ultimately the language we use, both visual and verbal, is what shapes our discourse. - Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan, Fast Co.Design

A compendium to help artists, designers, and curious readers gain more complex understanding of symbolism in the visual arts. The examples are wonderfully omnivorous. - Allison Meier, Hyperallergic

This glorious paperback is the perfect reference guide for artists, designers, and the visually inclined. With more than 400 images from sources as diverse as Stanley Kubricks The Shining to Stonehenge, Symbols is a crash course in the nature of the collective unconscious and the vocabulary it uses to manifest its ideas. - Sara Rosen, Crave Online

Author Bio

Mark Fox and Angie Wang are professors at California College of the Arts in San Francisco where they have taught courses in graphic design since 1993 and 2005, respectively. They collaborate under the name Design is Play; their work is represented in design collections at the United States Library of Congress, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.